The dreams deferred didn't end in the seventies. As recently as 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton, a Southern boy to his roots, sought a sincere discussion on race in America, the like of which we haven't seen since the Civil Rights Era. Planned as the centerpiece of his second term, designed to bring together the disparate levels of American society on issues of class, race and gender, crafted to end the bickering, antagonistic nature of late 20th Century American political debate ... well, as history has shown, Presidential pipe dreams don't always come true. Manifest Destiny sounded its clarion call, giving America another fateful choice: Shall we stand united as a people, or figure out what was on Monica Lewinsky's dress? Good call, America!

But what about the Reagan seven-cent nickel? Harry Truman's War On Penmanship? Mr. Bush's Vermin Anti-Bust pest control act?

America's got a big laundry list, folks, but we're one country that can handle the big loads. Let's get to it!

courtesy ofBertolt Blecht picturesTerry Colon

Bertolt Blecht